The Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957

What it does

The Act (Karnataka Act 34 of 1957) levies stamp duty on the instruments listed in its Schedule when they are executed in the State, or executed elsewhere, relate to property or a matter in the State, and are received in the State. For each class of instrument the Schedule has an Article that fixes the duty, and the body of the Act says how an instrument is stamped, what happens if it is not, and how duty is recovered or refunded.

For a property transaction the Act matters because duty is part of what makes a document usable. An instrument that is not duly stamped cannot ordinarily be received in evidence until the duty and any penalty are paid, and a document used in a registration or a suit without it invites impounding.

Article 41 deals with powers of attorney, and the duty depends on the kind of power and on the relationship between the principal and the agent. For some powers to sell immovable property in Karnataka the duty is charged on the market value of the property.

Who it binds

Anyone who executes, receives or relies on a chargeable instrument relating to property in Karnataka, and the registering and revenue authorities. The Act is a State enactment, and the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 continues to govern the duties that fall to the Union, such as on bills of exchange and some others.

What has changed, and when

The Act has been amended many times. The Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Karnataka Act 4 of 2024), published on 3 February 2024 and in force at once, substituted five hundred rupees for one hundred rupees in clause (b) of Article 41, and amended other clauses. The firm's note records that the 2015 lettering it read is therefore out of date, and that it has not seen a consolidated text of Article 41 after 2015. A reader who needs the rate for a particular clause should check the current consolidated text.

What turns on it in practice

The note on a power of attorney signed abroad to sell a flat in Bengaluru is where the Act bites. Section 18 gives an instrument executed only outside India three months after it is first received in Karnataka to be stamped. Section 18(2) lets a person who cannot stamp it with the prescribed stamp take it within the same period to the Deputy Commissioner, who stamps it with a value the person requires and pays for. The clock runs from receipt in the State, and a document left in a drawer for a year after it arrived stands in a different position from one stamped in time.

The Act also marks the limit of a power of attorney. The note records the Supreme Court's position that a general power of attorney does not itself sell the flat, since a transfer needs a registered deed of conveyance, which the attorney may sign for the owner. The stamping of the power is therefore a step in a chain that continues with the stamping and registration of the sale deed.

The practice area on this site for RERA and real estate advises non-resident owners, builders and buyers on these steps, and the date of receipt is the first fact to establish.